Ken Starr arrested for perpetrating $30 million Ponzi scheme

Manhattan, New York investment adviser Ken Starr – not to be confused with the attorney made famous by the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal – is the latest shifty-eyed money man to get caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He has been arrested by federal authorities for allegedly brewing a $30 million Ponzi scheme, reports NBC New York. The full slate of charges include wire fraud, investment adviser fraud, money laundering, IRS fraud and lying to a federal officer. Some of Ken Starr’s clients include famous portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz, Uma Thurman, Martin Scorsese and Wesley Snipes.

Ken Starr and Andy Stein were arrested

Ken Starr, an accountant and head of New York-based Starr and Co., was arrested by federal officers for the Ponzi scheme along with Andy Stein, former Manhattan borough president and the president of the New York City Council. Stein’s charges will likely include lying to law enforcement officers who were conducting the probe. Starr’s company has refused comment, while Stein’s office has yet to respond to press inquiries. Surely they’ll want the best attorneys paydayloans can buy.

Some of Ken Starr’s clients had their own troubles with the law

Wesley Snipes, star of the “Blade” film series, was a client of Ken Starr. Snipes had been convicted in 2006 for not filing tax returns in his home state of Florida. By 2008, Snipes was cleared of tax fraud and conspiracy. During the trial, Ken Starr was called upon to testify, and he told the court that he’d personally advised Snipes not to run afoul of the IRS.

Starr may have led Leibovitz and Sylvester Stallone into bad deals

In 2007, Ken Starr began an adviser-client relationship with photographer Annie Leibovitz. Allegedly, Leibovitz was advised to invest in Art Capital Group, a private bank that provides exclusive services to the art world. Leibovitz took a $24 million dollar loan in order to invest, but was unable to keep up with payments as the investment allegedly didn’t produce the returns Starr had promised. Five years earlier, Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone slapped Ken Starr with a lawsuit because the advice about investing in Planet Hollywood restaurant chain didn’t bear the returns Stallone was expecting.